The first round draw is up, and there are some interesting match ups. I grudged Mr Switzer first round. We have a great history of battles and I am sure the banter will be tossed around...(like a Dwarf).

I will give my totally misguided thoughts on the first round matchups, and see how close I get.

Joel McNelly vs Sam Campbell

7th ed Daemons Vs new WOC. I have not met Joel before, so please take this with a grain of salt. But with two units of 40 Bloodletters with heralds, its not looking good. This will come down to how well Sam uses his chaff, and how well Joel rolls for his impact hits. Sam 12-8

Nicholas Jebsen vs Charlie Lloyd

Orcs vs Tomb Kings. Normally the orcs should take all the TK toys off, but with the knights and stalkers tunneling, it could be interesting. TK have a lot of archery to get rid of the manglers, and the casket to get rid of the gobbo warmachines. If Nicholas gets his Savages or chariots into any of Charlies stuff, bones will be shattered. It will all depend on how Charlie rolls for his Entombed rolls. But as an Orc general, I will give this to Nick 14 - 6.

Darren Smucar vs James Millington

So the Ogre brick in a sock vs James's mixed WOC list. Darren "Mr rubber ruler" has been out of the tournament scene for a while, so will be interesting to see how he goes. He definately has the tools with two units of 7 Mournfang, thundertusk and a stonehorn. James is an experienced Woc player, and has taken a real mixed arms list. If he can get his Metal magic working for him, he should be fine. Although if those mournfang get into anything, its bad news bears. The Ogre list has a major weakness, but I won't be disclosing it here unless I have to play it. I will predict a 10-10.

Mal Patel vs Fern Campbell

Skink cloud Lizo vs NG Hordes. If this is Ferns first tournament, what a way to kick things off against the cold blooded cheeky darkie that is Mal. It will be very interesting. The biggest things will be LD 8 for the Gobbos, and the Dawn attack scenario. With such low ld, and the possibility of her general being away from a lot of her army, I can see panic running rife. I think it will be a harsh intro, I am picking a big win to Mal.

Hamish Gordon vs Brendon Johnston

The Bell crutch vs Beastmen. This should only end badly for the Beasts. Although Brendons magic could go very well, and he could end up picking up a lot of points through Death Magic. The hellpit will also want to stay away from the Bestigor....thats if there is any Bestigor left after the second Skaven turn. (tip, there shouldnt be). To put pressure on Hamish, he should win very big here.

Stuart Robinson vs Bo Paterson

New Woc vs Party Light Slaan with big fuck off monster. Stuart has a solid looking Woc list, with two big warrior blocks. He is also running a lvl 4 Nurgle sorceror which is gold. Bo's regular lizards have been joined by a big nasty Dread Saurian. Light buffed Saurus should be able to grind warriors, and with a big nasty monster, I will give this to Bo....Just. 11-9

Aaron Hodson vs Jeff Kent

A very solid Ogre list vs the most annoying list in Warhammer...more fuckin Skinks. I think the Old ones have given up on trying to spawn Saurus, as you hardly ever see them in there proper role. I think no Slaughtermaster could hurt Aaron against 2 Slaans, but with double fireball and 2 c***blasters, he could be ok. Death snipes will be really nasty though. It will be close again though, so 10-10, or an 11-9 to Jeff.

Neil Williamson vs Mark Skilton

So a no deployment Dwarf army vs VC with a bus and a Nightmare Collossus. I have absolutely NO idea on how this game is going to go. 10-10 Sorry.

Simon Switzer vs Yours Truly

The gauntlet has been thrown and accepted, and it has been decided that we will meet again on the field of battle. So Simon " I will envelop you with my Dwarfs" Switzer is bringing his usual heavy artillery backed up by solid blocks. I am bringing my DE. I have no magic in my list, so all the points Simon has invested in Magical protection is wasted, and it also means that it will be a quick game. To put it bluntly, I am going to use Dwarf skins for the sails of my Corsair ships. Dwarf beards will be woven together and used for sacks to fill with the excrement of my Hydras. Dwarf flesh will be roasted and fed to my Cold Ones, and your Dwarven "women" will be sold to Goblins for Squig food.......

Ahem. In truth, Simon has come a long way since our first meeting, and will probably take all my toys off.

So these are my drug addled predictions, let me know what you guys think of them, and how many you think I have correct.

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

So Equinox has been and gone. I had 6 great games against 6 great opponents and won best sport.
Went 2-2-2 which is really disappointing. My second worst ever tournament finish. I came away a little despondent. I think I played Ok. A couple of failed re rollable LD 9 tests cost me big and turned 2 big wins into a loss and a draw. Oh well, shit happens.

Warriors were strong as everyone thought. Only played one, and was able to take the daemon prince out first turn, and then proceeded to get tabled....yup. Losing 16-4. Treason of Tzeentch is a frickin awesome spell....Fear it.
Very well done to Russel though, you played really well and I played like a chump.

I need one of these.

Thanks sooo much to Rory for the accommodation and rides to and from the airport. You are a fucking champ mate, absolute legend of the Auckland scene.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the tournament as a whole. 4 games on one day was shit. I think it cost me in the last game against Russel. I understand that it was due to venue fuck ups and flight times, but it wasn't fun. I would rather play 5 games over two days, than 4 on a day to get 6 in.

This also made the rounds shorter, which puts pressure on everyone. 2 hours 15 for 2400pts I dont think is long enough. And on day 2 the rounds felt even shorter, I think like 2 hours, which is just crazy.
A lot of the games on day 2 were only getting 3-4 turns in, which seriously hinders some armies and builds.

Packing up on the Saturday night after 4 games wasn't fun, but understand it had to be done. Myself and Rory turned up a little early on the Sunday, and we had to literally set up the ENTIRE hall, with the help of the Northern boys and a couple of others. Seriously, we had to set up all the tresses and boards plus terrain...for fantasy and 40k. I don't mind helping out, I think everyone should chip in, but if we hadn't of been there early, I hate to think what time the day would have started. Especially as I had flown up from out of town, I don't really expect to be the forman of setup!

Another problem was the comp. I don't really understand a couple of things. Getting LOS's from the big spells is silly, it just promotes the Deathstar build. Unnecessary. But my biggest bugbear is using TLOS with infinitely high hills, I don't get it. Warhammer is a game that is made for TLOS. JUST BUILD TALLER HILLS AND GET RID OF THE RULE!! Seriously, look at the GW terrain, you can easily hide things behind those hills!

I don't do it often....

Congrats to Tim, Ross and Dan. All really good players and totally deserving of their placings. It was good to pick your brain Tim re the Chaos Dwarfs, some really good discussion.

I want to see all you Aucklanders down at Wellington some stage in the near future. OH and I will be getting that celebrity Mug off you Tim.......

Sunday, 3 March 2013

So I have submitted my list for Equinox. I always have heaps of ideas for lists floating around in the great void that is the inside of my head, but I always tend to make a list, think its great, think of something else I would like to squeeze in, then go back to the drawing board. I always need a list to "feel" right.

I have recently become a fledgling member of the Twitter community. @xDrMarmaladex
It was on here that I heard of Chris Yu's (Garagehammer Podcast) win at a recent tourney with his Orcs. Funnily enough, it was with a list that was remarkably similar to the one I had just subbed the day before...Omen maybe.....no double pun intended.

Now I don't really get much gaming in between tournaments these days, mainly because of work and family commitments, so a lot of it is theory hammer. I have been meaning to get a long to the Kapiti Club on Thursdays, but things always seem to get in the way.

About Me

Hello enemies of Hashut.
I am an avid Warhammer player from the land of the long white cloud.
I collect Dark Elves, WOC, and of course CHAOS DWARFS!!!
I have been gaming for around 15 years, and love painting and converting. But going to tournaments is my favourite thing in the hobby.